The Grenada gazette., 1887-12-31

auvent OF departure III any ,no,t ..,I.
ever was secn-or supposed to be
seem"
"The bonds of materialism prevent
perfect Intercourse. perhaps sug-
gest. 'Uur senses are too gross to
perceive that which the, would teach
were we fit to receive it. The fault
may be ours"
Gresham regards me liSe,lly, with his
pen poised over the inkstand.
knowing that" he retorls vigor-
ously, "it argues great hopefulness in
the ghosts to tackle us. If "a thing can
not be received it's idle that it should
be offered. Infinite Wisdom. it seems
to me- would suggest better adjust
IN ,nts. Mind, I'm not disputins spir-
itual manifestations or authentic
ghosts; simply say that no ghosts or
spirit has ever honored me with his or
her acquaintance, and l can't ad init
that ] have found life unsatisfying and
incomplete in consequence.
Then he bent over his work again.
There is silence in the room. Up
and down the stairway and through
the corridors of the big building foot
steps pass and repass. The sounds of
the streets reach us from time to time
a spoken word, call, the music Of
soft Southern laugh. My cigar burns
unevenly. in 4 way do not like. My
mind strays backward to the days of
my boyhood and memory, from her
storeclosct, drags out, shakes free of
the dust of years, and presents to me
thing that happened long ago.
At fourteen l was an idle. careless
school-boy. tough of conscience and
digestion. strong in muscle and Drawn,
and free from abnormal development
OF nerve tissue. A healthy. vigorous
animal. in Short unimaginativc. un-
emotional. IN any morbid way; q
creature who ate. drank, slept and
played with hearty abandon, and
shrickcd undue knowledge. and had
little hankcring for mental develop.
ment. A difficult subject for spirit
ual manifestations! Very possibly.
Yet in those days was once fully con.
vinced that l had seen y ghost. /
think so still. At least I have never
been able to account for that which /
did sec.
1t happened this way. At the
school where some six years of NY
boyhood were spent, lived a gentleman
named Wilmington. H, was a pro-
fessor of En- glish, and his wife. for a
couple of years was matron, and looked
after our manners and morals (having
boys of her own), as we'll as our
bodies and clothing. She was gem
tie, sweet hammered woman, lady in
the highest sense, and the rough lads
under her charge repaid her care with
loyal devotion, Ii was great blow
to us all when ill-hcalth and increas.
ing family cares made it necessary TOR
her to give up her position in the
| school.
They moved to village half a mile
from us, and Mr. Wilmington walked
to his class daily. We liked him and
respected him, which is as much as a
man can expect from the lads he in.
structs. and far more than many =
man can command. But our feeling
for his wife amounted to sentiment.
The autumn after their removal to
the village was unusually sickly; much
fever and of q bad sort. Poor people
had hard time Of it, and the Win
ningtons were very poor-far poorer
than any one imagined, for they kept
their necessities and struggles to them
selves as becomes gentle folks. In
the very beginning of the epidemic
three of the six children sickcned. and
later Mrs. Wilmington was stricken
down, very bad case.
One evening just about dusk, lmet
Mr. Wilmington on his way to the
school to tell us that his youngest
child, a little girl, had died that day At
noon, and that the doctor had advised
that the little body should be taken to
the church for the time that must in
tervcne before burial--the house was
so small and the mother desperate ly
i'll. She did not know of her child's
death, her husband said, and his voice
auivcrcd and broke.
Twas not m observant lad, but the
look on his haggard face appealed to
me, madc me vaguely shy and sorry
and uncomfortable. ! wanted 10 S ~
something to him, but the word:
would not come. 1t was relief when
he told me that he had come to sec il
some of the boys would not bc willing
to sit up in the church that night and
watch beside the little body. H. could
hire some one but he shrank from
having his baby cared for so
and his wife and the other chill
drcn could not be left withou
him. This was something prac
tical. something that came quite within
my range as an expression OF sym
pathy; so promised with great rcadi
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